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Friday, September 16, 2016

Ruminations and revelations......

I know, I know......where have I been?!!

Well, the truth be told, I have been managing some very deep and personal emotions over the last year or so and I have not been and am still not ready to process them in public. Life of course, has carried on. We have done many fun and important things....life is still good.

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

The processing however, has been super slow. Its not a bad thing. It just is what it is. I can't make it go any faster, even though I would like it to be done and over with. It is a process and I am in the middle of it.

I have come to a few revelations recently.....now they are really not new, but my understanding of them and ability to apply them....that is new. Here they are:

1. I am not responsible for other's feelings.....not their reactions.....or the meanings they attach to my behavior. If they really want to know what is going on in my head and my heart, then they should probably just ask me and not make assumptions and allow those assumptions to hurt their feelings. Their hurt feelings are not my fault, even if their hurt feelings are attached to my behavior.

2. When I respond with Christ-like love, compassion, and kindness to their misunderstanding and hurt feelings, things work better and I am more in control of my emotions. When I let my anger, hurt and frustration rule my response to their ridiculousness, we all lose and it gets ugly. Kindness is the key. My husband gave me a necklace for Christmas. It is a simple silver key. I wear it and remind myself that kindness is the key particularly when I am feeling vulnerable to respond in the 'natural Carin' way instead of the Christ-like way.

3. Christ focuses on others, even when He himself is hurting. Today in seminary we studied Matthew 14 where the Savior learns of John the Baptist's beheading. Did you know that was his emotional place when he performed the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes? Did you know that there were five thousand MEN that he fed with those five loaves and two fishes---that there were women and children there too? He probably fed over 10,000 people......when he himself, just wanted to be apart from everyone and mourn the loss of his beloved cousin and the forerunner of His ministry. This particular story touched my heart more than I knew was possible. So many times as a mother, I just want to run screaming from the room and say, "I am sorry you have all of these needs....I need a moment to attend to my own sorrow, or stress or whatever." Christ would not respond that way. He looked on the multitude with compassion and when the disciples said, "It is late, let us send them away...." Christ said, no....and then took care of them, regardless of His personal pain. I want to be able to respond like that.

4. The Savior is patient with us. He waits for us to figure it out and then gives us further insight or something else to think about. I have come to a place recently where I, in a small measure, recognized emotionally what I gave up when I left my parents and siblings to go to BYU. It is a normal thing for college aged kids to go off to college after graduation right? Well, things were not normal at my house when I left. My mother had just left our family and left all six of us kids with my dad. My dad wanted me to stay home and take over for my mother and help the family in this time of crisis. I knew however, that their ship was sinking and no amount of effort I could put in was going to save it or keep it afloat. I knew that if I didn't leave when I did, I would spiritually sink with the boat. I left them, children and all, to save myself spiritually. In order to do that, I had to distance myself so far emotionally just so I could survive in my new environment and not mourn the people and things I left behind. I chose God, over my family. Most of them have still not forgiven me for making that choice. They likely never will. I am finally looking back at what I left behind and mourning for those people and relationships. Now, I am not reliving that, just recognizing the sacrifices that were made and mourning those losses, so I can allow my Savior to heal me, instead of having them buried underneath 30 years of life. Functionally, I am cleaning out the closet and finding some nasty stuff in there. As I came to that realization, the Spirit's gentle whisperings were "I need you to see what you have done in the past and recognize the strength you have within...." I have the feeling I am going to need that knowledge in the near future. I am not excited.......

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

5. The Savior asks us to do really hard things, but waits patiently until we are willing and able to do it. I have been trying to drop 30 pounds for about 10 years...... I try and try and try but seem to have these emotional places that get in my way. (I think I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds 10 or 15 times.) I have not been able to break through them to figure out the psychological reasons why I eat the way I do and cannot seem to maintain proper food intake to have the results I want. Today during my scripture study, I had a major emotional breakthrough. I think I understand why it has been so hard and I can see that without my new understanding of today, I have not yet been successful in years worth of effort. I think I am ready and now I believe I am capable of actually dropping the weight and keeping it off. Theory is always different than application and my new knowledge is theory. There will still be some 'falling off the wagon' as I learn to apply the new knowledge. I will struggle. I will make mistakes. I will have some failures. But as I keep moving forward, I will also have more success than I have in the past. I need to be patient with myself and not beat myself up because it is a process and it is hard and it is new. I can do it, with His help.

6. Each of us has to learn to rely on our Father in Heaven. I recognized this morning that in all of my life, my Father in Heaven has put people in my life who have been able to provide me with the emotional support I need. I have always had someone there who fed me emotionally.......until recently. In the last few years, all of those people have moved away from me. I have not really been able to talk with anyone regularly about the deep troubles in my heart. I have had to learn to pour them out to my Father in prayer. It is never usually one great big long prayer.....but lots of teeny prayers throughout the days. It is hard sometimes when I do not feel supported or fed. But He never leaves me hanging. Like Peter when he was walking on the water, every time I get to the point where I just can't do it by myself and I am starting to sink, I call, and He reaches out to me. He pulls me close and lets me cry and gives me enough encouragement to dust myself off and try again. Which leads me to my last point......

7. I can trust Him. I do not trust anyone. I allow people to participate in my life to an extent. But I have never trusted most of them with all of my heart. I have been hurt emotionally too many times by people who are suppose to protect me and love me. It is an every day work and effort for me. Every Day! He wants me to share my best self with people. I don't yet. Because I know people are going to hurt me.....He is asking me to let others in. I am afraid they will ruin the curtains and jump all over the furniture and graffiti on the walls of my soul. I keep them at a distance, so they cannot do that to me. He reminds me that even if they do those things to me, He will heal me. He will always come. He will never let me go. Only I can let go of Him, but He will not let go of me......EVER! He is God. He cannot lie or He would not be God. I can trust Him to take care of me, even when no one else will. This has been the hardest doctrine of all to apply. I forget it daily and need to be reminded.

I cannot believe I am writing. I have not wanted to look that deeply into my soul but these things have been running around in there for quite a while.

I love teaching seminary!! My class is GREAT this year! We went from a class of six to a class of 16---pretty regularly! We have 21 on the rolls and only one student has not shown up at least once. I feel that is a huge success! And we are at the point where the class talks together and communicates with one another. We have seven sets of siblings, which provides its own unique challenges. But we are working on it.

Now that I have ventured into my soul, maybe I will update you on real life in a few days.....maybe not. I may still have more things to think about without putting it out on the blog. But we will see.

Until then, just know that I know Jesus Christ heals. He is real. He knows you personally, all of you---heart, sorrow, sin, thoughts, beliefs......all of it. You do not have to hide from Him. He knows where you are anyway, so you might as well just face yourself in the mirror, acknowledge where you are, and decide to do what you need to to be who you want to be.

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

It is so freeing to be true to yourself, especially when that truth is in line with His Truth! Have a great weekend!

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About Me

Mother of nine. Busy as a bee. Loving life, living, learning, enjoying the process. Each day is a new adventure which provides growth and development for all (our family motto)! So my time is spent helping my family accept and adjust to the new things they get to experience in mortality. Never a dull moment!

Quotes for my life:

"To do well does not mean everything will always turn out well. The key is to remember that faith and obedience are still the answers, even when things go wrong, perhaps especially when things go wrong."--David E. Sorensen, "Faith Is the Answer," Ensign, May 2005, 72

“The cultivation of Christlike qualities is a demanding and relentless task—it is not for the seasonal worker or for those who will not stretch themselves, again and again.”President Spencer Kimball, “Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, November 1978, 105

Mothers who Know

COURAGE...

Life's journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, 'No,' the courage to say, 'Yes.' Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be.--Thomas S. Monson, "The Call for Courage," Ensign, May 2004, 54

STRENGTH

“When[ever] I am tempted to feel that I have finished some hard task in the [Lord’s service] and deserve a rest, the Savior’s example gives me courage to press on. … When[ever] [I] remember Him, it becomes easier to resist the temptation to want a rest from [our] priesthood labors. We must have remembered Him today, and so we are here to [remember to] learn our duties, determined to do what we are covenanted to do, in all diligence. And because of His example we will endure to the end of the tasks He gives us in this life and be committed to do the will of His Father forever, as He was and is. This is the Lord’s Church. He called us and trusted us even in the weaknesses He knew we had. He knew the trials we would face. … We can become ever more like Him.” Henry B. Eyring, “Act in All Diligence,” Ensign, May 2010, 60-63.

Motivation

"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."--Richard G. Scott, "Finding the Way Back," Ensign, May 1990, 74

I have the feeling I will need this later

"The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." Elder Quentin L. Cook